Department for Work and Pensions workers vote on whether to strike

Mark Serwotka, general secretary of the PCS union, said: 'The very department responsible for getting people back into work is unnecessarily forcing people into unemployment.' Photograph: Linda Nylind for the Guardian

Tens of thousands of workers in the government's biggest department are voting on whether to strike in a dispute over jobs.

Balloting of union members at the Department for Work and Pensions closes on 10 January, and the first walkout could be held towards the end of the month, followed by an overtime ban.

The Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union, which has 80,000 members at the department, launched the ballot in protest at a number of compulsory redundancies.

Notices have been issued to 40 administrative assistants and three admin officers in jobcentres, benefit offices and call centres, said the union.

PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said: "Ministers repeatedly claim that if people can work, they should. But at a time when welfare services are so important, here we have the very department responsible for getting people back into work and off benefits unnecessarily forcing people into unemployment.

"In an organisation of this size, it is inconceivable that work cannot be found to keep them employed."

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